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By Max Blumenthal - Wed, 2011-11-09 14:52-

On October 25, here at Al-Akhbar, I drew attention to Washington Post "Right Turn" columnist Jennifer Rubin's re-tweet of a call by professional neocon Rachel Abrams for the mass murder of Palestinians. In my post, I urged readers to write Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton and inquire if the Post has a policy regarding staffers who promote mass murder, ethnic violence, and hate speech. Yesterday, Pexton weighed in on the matter in his "Post Roast" column, crediting my post at Al-Akhbar with exposing Rubin's re-tweet.

Pexton asked Rubin if her re-tweet was simply an innocent gesture intended to direct her followers to a widely discussed piece of inflammatory writing, or if it was an explicit endorsement of Abrams' call for murdering Palestinians, whom she described as "unmanned animals" and "child-sacrificing savages." Rubin replied matter-of-factly that it was the latter: she supported Abrams' message. According to Pexton, "But in this case Rubin told me that she did agree with Abrams. Rubin said that she admires Abrams, has quoted her a lot, thinks she’s an excellent writer and endorsed the sentiment behind the Abrams blog post."

Though Pexton stopped short of calling for Rubin to be fired, he concluded that by endorsing what amounted to a call for mass murder, if not genocide, "Rubin did damage to The Post and the credibility that keeps it afloat."

Pexton (who has been compelled to protect Rubin before) added in Rubin's defense that "The Post needs conservative voices to balance its many liberal ones." However, Rubin is not seen by political conservatives as a standard bearer of their views. Erick Erickson, a prominent right-wing blogger, accurately characterized Rubin as "Likud rather than Republican." She described herself to Pexton simply as "a pro-Israel blogger." The only bumper sticker on her car reads: “JERUSALEM IS NOT A SETTLEMENT. It’s Israel’s Eternal And Undivided Capital.” Rubin is nothing more than a Greater Israel fanatic committed above all to the extremist colonies forcibly implanted in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Perhaps the only thing she shares with Tea Party-style conservatives like Erickson is the tendency to exalt American and Israeli violence against Muslims, or those they might call "child sacrificing savages."

So how does Rubin provide The Washington Post with "balance?" None of the paper's supposedly liberal columnists are willing to raise a peep in favor of Palestinian rights, and even if they were, they could face harsh reprisals for doing so. Moreover, the Post op-ed page is dominated by neoconservatives and torture enthusiasts whose views on Israel-Palestine are practically identical to Rubin's. Instead of balancing out the "many liberal" voices at the Post, Rubin simply injects elements of vitriol and Jewish extremism into a droning chorus of ultra-Zionist cant.

To be sure, it is rare for any newspaper ombudsman to call for the termination of a writer. Usually, a withering criticism like the one Pexton published about Rubin would be followed by swift punitive action by the editorial board. At least, that is what would happen inside a decent newsroom where mass murder and hate speech is frowned upon. However, when he was queried by Politico's Ben Smith about Rubin's endorsement of Abrams' genocidal rant, Washington Post op-ed page editor Fred Hiatt rushed to his columnist's defense.

"I think Jennifer is an excellent journalist and a relentless reporter," Hiatt declared. "I think because she has strong views, and because she is as willing to take on her home team, as it were, as the visitors, she comes under more scrutiny than many and is often the target of unjustified criticism. I think she brings enormous value to the Post."

Leaving aside the fact that Rubin's stated support for mass murdering Palestinians did not seem to trouble Hiatt at all, there are a number of problems with his statement. First of all, Rubin is not a journalist or a reporter, and she never has been. Before Hiatt hired her to blog for the Post, she was a former lawyer who churned out opinion pieces and blog posts expressing stock neoconservative views for movement outlets like the Weekly Standard and Commentary.

Further, Hiatt's reference to "the home team" and "the visitors" was confusing. Presumably he was alluding to conservatives and liberals, since Rubin often criticizes the Republican opponents of Mitt Romney (Romney is the most pliant marionette the neocons could find among the Republican primary field). But Rubin's real home team is not the conservative movement or the Republican Party. Her team is called "Judea and Samaria," and it is comprised of visitors from Brooklyn who intend to displace as many indigenous Palestinians as they can. Contrary to Hiatt's claim, Rubin is coming under scrutiny for being an advocate of violence and ethnic eliminationism, not for being fiercely independent.

If Rubin had brazenly supported a call for the mass killing of blacks, gays or Jews, the Washington Post would have probably become the target of a boycott campaign organized by a national coalition of civil rights groups. And if Hiatt leapt to her defense, the damage would have spread through the upper echelons of the paper, tainting him and everyone around him. But Rubin was promoting the killing of the Palestinian un-people. And inside the Washington media world, where going along to get along is rule number one, such views are apparently tolerated, if not accepted as legitimate.

But questions remain for The Washington Post editorial board. Does it have a policy on staff writers and opinion columnists promoting violence and hate speech? The editors must assess Rubin's behavior based on the paper's ethical guidelines, not the opinions of Hiatt. On the day that Pexton condemned Rubin's behavior, Rubin retweeted a link to a new tirade by Rachel Abrams. Given her recidivist tendencies, the damage to the Post might only be beginning.

What do you EXPECT from them?
I became curious about the Basis of the Jewish "claim" to Palestine, how they were always saying "God gave it to us",
so I read their claim. Their "claim" to Palestine is based entirely on War Crimes and GENOCIDE.
It is UNFAIR and WRONG to compare Israel to the Nazis.
The CORRECT comparison is that of the Nazis to the Israelis:
The Nazis just copied the Jewish "Manual" point by point
KILL THE SICK and CRIPPLED
Numbers c.5 v.2-4
KILL HOMOSEXUALS
Leviticus c.20 v.13 well, really the whole chapter
KILL ALL DISSIDENTS:
Exodus c.32 v.27
Numbers c.11 v.1-2
Numbers c.16 all
Numbers c.21 v.5-6
Numbers v.26 v.10
KILL anyone who engages in "DIVERSITY" or "INTEGRATION"
Numbers v25 v.4-8
Deuteronomy c.14 v.2
DEHUMANIZE and then EXTERMINATE ALL NON-MEMBERS:
Numbers c.21 v.03 Canaanites
Numbers c.21 v.24 Amorites
Numbers c.21 v.33-35 Bashan
Numbers c.31 all Midianites
Numbers c.32 v. more Amorites
Deuteronomy c.2 v.34 People of Heshbon
Deuteronomy c.3 v.6 really the whole chapter. threescore cities
Joshua c.12 A list of victims of Israeli GENOCIDE
Where are THEIR "holocaust" Memorials!
OCCUPY YOUR VICTIM'S DWELLINGS/LAND
Numbers c.21 v.25
Numbers c.32 v.39
Numbers c.33 v.53
(just to name a FEW)
GENOCIDE CODIFIED IN THEIR RELIGION
Numbers c.33 v.31-34
Deuteronomy c.7 v.2
Deuteronomy c.12 v.28-30
Deuteronomy c.20 v.11-16
TERRORISM CODIFIED IN THEIR RELIGION
Deuteronomy c.2 v.2
Deuteronomy c.7 v.1
Jews SELF-anointed "The CHOSEN People of GOD"
Nazis SELF-anointed "The GENETICALLY CHOSEN People of God".

Trish, nice to see you either missed the point of the original post that Rubin linked to or reading comprehension is just not a strong suit for you. Ms. Abrams rant called for basically all Palestinians to be dropped in the ocean and devoured by sharks.

How, in your world, Hiatt's world, or any alternative reality does that not equate to genocide? It does equate to genocide in both Abrams and Rubins worlds.... they just don't care.

How can you publish this mendacious drivel? No one called for genocide or mass murder. Your writer's deliberate distortion of the ombudsman's complete statement through lies of deliberate omission is disgraceful.

I don't know if the Washington Post editorial board has "a policy on staff writers and opinion columnists promoting violence and hate speech", but your publication does have standards: "Submissions selected for publication are expected to live up to high standards of factual accuracy, source accountability, and proper accreditation where necessary."

Given the deliberate lies of omission by writer Blumenthal in order to distort the facts of what happened, he has violated your policy and you have violated your own policy by publishing him. Use of this writer calls your journalistic integrity into question.

A simple question Mr Blumenthal. Have you ever campaigned against the Hamas Charter over its open call to genocide?

If not (and I was unable to find such a call) it can only mean you do not regard it as unacceptable because you are after all, very much immersed in this conflict. In that case, criticizing it on the other side is blatantly hypocritical to the point where your views are worthless. This is more true because you have misrepresented what th Ombudsman said to make your point.

Bradley Words mean nothing its our actions ,and the only people I see getting pushed into the sea is the Palestinians! The only people i see having their mosque burn down like the nazi did to our Synagogue are filthy zionist settles!! Israeli have a different meaning of Never again.Israel does not rep me its just a welfare state that tries to make jews feel guilty for not supporting its fascist state .Israel is an army with a state thats all it is

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews).." This is from a Koranic text that seems to call for the elimnination of the Jews.

'Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. "May the cowards never sleep." '

There are more references to Jews containing untruths. E.g. "But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion." Judaism does not seek converts of course. Christianity and Islam do.

It's typical on your side to engage in name-calling and postulating some kind of organisation just because you've been challenged.

All those quotations are usually supplied by very dubious sources. But, regardless, Judaism's holy books are full of anti-goy rasism, including the most horrible commands. See book by Israel Shahak on the history of Judaism, for ex. Jews lived in the ME before Zionism and fared much better than in "civilized" Europe. On the other hand, Zionist state is chock-full of racist laws (today) against non-Jews, esp, the natives of the Palestine.

Jennifer Rubin never supported mass murder or said Palestinians were "un-people".

Blumenthal was only able to make that claim because he intentionally left out parts of her quotation which make it plain she was angry against those Palestinians who supported suicide bombers and fired rockets at Israeli kindergartens and yellow school buses where there are NO Israeli soldiers.

It's pretty clear that Rubin considers innocent civilian Palestinian moms, kids and others to be just as deserving of protection as non-fighting Israeli civilians (20% of whom ARE Israeli Palestinians).

What kind of "innocent Palestinian civilian" teaches little girls to say they want to kill Jews and hope to die while doing it??!! Such a person is a child abuser according to UNICEF.

Time to end the propaganda about Gazan refugees being terrorists when they shoot firecrackers at places like Sderot. They are shooting at their own property. 70% of the christians and moslems in Gaza (over a million people) are refugees from zionist ethnic cleansing whose homes and property are inside Israel. Sderot, for example, is 95% owned by christian and moslem refugees.

Time to end the claim that if you belong to the right racist sect then you are entitled to keep stolen property. This is simply totalitarianism by a racist sect (sect ideology comes before the human rights of real people) and has no place in the modern world. We need to remember the lessons of Munich - one cannot reason with fanatical sects like zionism. "Concessions" only lead to ever more repugnant racism - they simply have to be cleaned out.

We should cut the zionists off without another penny from the USA and begin to support real jews.

From Zochrot, an awkward request for Nakba day
A request from the Palestinian Refugees

My sisters and brothers the refugees of Palestinian, today is the 15th of May, the Nakba Day, and I have one request from you; a heartfelt request from the son of occupiers, as an occupier, to those who paid the price for this occupation.

No, I do not ask for forgiveness for the occupation, or the destruction and expulsion that occurred in the Nakba of 1948. I can’t really expect forgiveness for these horrors, not in the true sense of forgiveness, the religious or spiritual sense.....

...Therefore, my request is more modest, and I hope that you could relate to it because without it I will not be able to continue to hope and to believe that it is possible to live in this land. And by “living” I mean really living, in the true sense of the word—to speak its language, to know its history, not just to conquer it, to turn it into a myth, to be afraid in and to want to be someplace else, which is not this land, when a good opportunity happens to come up, to run away to foreign lands (always in a Western direction) in every opportunity…

My request is, therefore, that you persist and will not give up your right to return. It might sound a little strange because who am I to ask of you to insist on your own rights, the basic right of people who were uprooted from their land and their homes. But despite this, despite how awkward or absurd this request may be, despite it sounds as minefield, I insist. Please, you and your children, don’t ever give up your right to return. Not (only) for yourselves but for me also....

...Our humanity is bound up with your right to return. The day we expelled you from your land you carried a part of it with you. Only when you can return we will be able to restore our humanity....